Well I thought I would give it a try. Here’s a picture of 0.4 oz black malt, pulverized in a coffee mill. I’ll be adding this to the wort, which is a nice light color around 5 SRM. Should be able to bring it up to around 8, but we’ll see.
Here’s the wort prior to adding the black malt. White background makes it look darker than it is.
Or maybe it’ll just float around on the hot break and stick to the sides of the kettle…
Now your going to boil 60 min? I would think it would be bitter. Why not just steep?
That was my concern, too, but figured I’d give it a shot. I doubt half an ounce in 5 gallons is going to have any flavor impact, though. This experiment is all about seeing how much color adjustment can be done after mashing, with powdering the malt being the best way to get maximum color extraction. We’ll see.
Yea I just crushed my roasted grain for that red esb in with the rest. I was gonna steep but forgot when I was milling. Only did 2ozes
And now for some extra flavor in your coffee?! Stir it in to disperse then? Sneezles61
Nah, I have a spare coffee grinder that I use for whole spices. Might have gotten some black pepper and cardamom in there, though.
I’m letting it cool outside with the cover off overnight. Seems appropriate for a French farmhouse style. I’ll have a better idea of the color tomorrow, but first impression is that it darkened the wort quite a bit more than if it were a mash addition.
I’d put it in the mash last few minutes or steep if all you want is color. My concern would be astringency from boiling the husks. Even though they’re ground fine the material is still in there.
Will be interested in hearing how it works out!
Sure, but the kettle pH was 5.1, so it shouldn’t really be too big of a deal. Not all that different than doing a decoction, which is just fine to boil husks as long as the pH doesn’t get too high.
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Didn’t get a photo, but I tacked this beer to secondary so I could lager my ale for a couple months (snicker), and it seems to have worked ok. No astringency from the boiled malt, and it came out a great copper color. Much more color extraction than if I had added this grain to the mash. Quite a bit of the powdered malt made it into the fermenter because I boiled off way more than expected, but it fell to the bottom with the yeast.
Not something I’d do every time, but it seems quite effective at darkening a beer that comes out too light after the run-off. Just my two pfennig.
zwie pfennig? Schneezles61, yah!
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Just to close this thread, here’s the resulting bière de garde after 8 months lagering with French ale yeast, and a couple months bottle conditioning. Very nice. Rich brown color, touch of graininess in the malt (no didn’t use briess), hint of licorice, and a fluffy layer of foam that persists to the end. Much deeper color than would have been achieved adding the same amount of black malt to the mash tun.
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Good lookin’ beer!
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Yes, looks very tasty! Sneezles61
I’d drink that.
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